It has been about two and a half weeks since our last posting... no news is good news, right? In Stephen's case that is true. There is so much good healing happening here in the Johnson household. We can attribute that to the grace of God, Stephen being young and healthy, and all our friends near and far who have been praying for his recovery. Thank you so much for holding us up in prayer, wishing us well, sending cards or notes of encouragement, and feeding us with some really good food that has kept us nourished as we transitioned from hospital to home recovery.

This morning Dan and Chris came home to do a bit of traditional Halloween pumpkin carving . We have stockpiled quite a collection of carving tools and patterns. It was a super fun morning with all our boys under our roof; one of Cleo's favorite things. Today also gave Steph a chance to try his hand at tracing and cutting out his pattern and to see what the challenges might be. This task falls under the OT orders of getting back to work. He is now very close to doing so. It is believed that he will most likely be back to work in December. He is working hard to have that happen. Of course, there are still a few more obstacles to get around before he is signed off to return to work and for driving. He has already been cleared by the Neuro team after his last CT scan which showed the skull healing quite nicely and passed his eye exam of which his optic nerve in his right eye is damaged and most likely will not recover further (fun fact: in the state of Minnesota drivers must have at least 20/40 acuity with either one usable eye or with both eyes, with or without corrective lenses; and a visual field of at least 105 degrees in the horizontal diameter with either one usable eye or with both eyes). He has also done very well on his cognitive skill tests that OT presented to him last week. These skills are critical for driving and returning to work. He was given a bit of homework of working with tools and having someone assess his results... today was a good test. He did about as well as he has done in years past. He also passed his hearing test which made for a great week. In a couple weeks the TBI team will use a driving simulator to assess his skills and if he passes they will sign off. His only real major issue is getting his left eye (the one with good vision) back to a normal close position with a minor surgery to help with that. He still is responsible for eye drops four times a day; which he now handles on his own. There is still nerve damage on the left side which may or may not recover. We are being hopeful, but if it doesn't recover in the next few months, he will need to possibly address that issue as it comes along.

All-in-all, he is one lucky guy. Steph has asked that we shut down the posts as he is not liking all the attention. We agreed to do that for him. At this time we will leave it open, but will close it out in the near future. One never thinks they will ever need to use this service, but we were so grateful that it was available to us. We are even more grateful that it was only for such a short stint. So, if by chance you want to know how he is coming along, feel free to reach out to us and we can update you.

Blessings to all of you who have followed these posts over the last month and a half. Stay safe. Hug your kids. Be kind to each other and never let a moment pass that you don't share with loved ones about how you feel... tell them you love them now, and do it often!!! 

Farewell from the Johnsons, Paul, Cleo, Dan, Chris and Stephen